Christina knew she wanted to be a writer in the fourth grade. In college, she studied English with a Professional Writing emphasis. Her creative nonfiction class yielded two pieces that were later published—Tell Me About Your First Time in the college literary magazine riverrun and How to Kill Yourself Slowly on denversyntax.com.

She published the short story Death and Other Disappointments while working as a technical writer for a Department of Defense contractor. That job took her to Iraq for one rotation, which cracked her mind open to a whole new perspective and started infecting her writing. She blogged from Iraq and during pregnancy and now continues another blog centered on running.

Oliver Brackenbury grew up around the corner from a five story deep nuclear fallout shelter, as you do. This may explain why his first story was about the world exploding so humanity could learn the value of saving their allowance. He is the son of two self-employed artists who made sure he was a life-long reader. This, combined with strong theoretical and practical educations in poetry, film, prose, and graphic novels have given him a multi-faceted, highly visual take on storytelling as well as a deep sympathy for those who have to struggle to get by. Several his short films have been accepted into festivals and his webseries have built a strong enough audience to run multiple successful crowdfunding campaigns. He earned his B.A. English (Hon) from Carleton University, one of the only schools in a nation’s capital that you can skate to. He wrote his current novel in hopes that readers find some sense of catharsis and sympathy in reading about characters struggling with economic desperation, feelings of being overwhelmed by our ever accelerating world, and a loss of agency that makes any action feel better than continuing to do nothing. He also hopes they get a kick out of the filmic visuals, visceral action sequences, and a villain that’s great fun to hate.

God, Family, Country. CN Bring gravitated toward military intrigue and suspense coming from a military family and a mother who read nothing but mysteries. Many of her family members served in the Army and Navy and some are still serving today. When Bring is not writing she is visiting children and grandchildren which takes her to various army bases, Los Angeles, California, and Portland, Oregon. Bring spent several years as a Motocross mom and is a football and hockey fan. During football season you can find her trying to catch every game of The Green Bay Packers. The Hockey team she cheers for is the Detroit Red Wings. Once summer hits, Bring connects with the Christian Motorcyclists Association. Bring's extensive research and life experience lend an authentic feel to her Celia Kelly military, mystery, thriller series, as well as the Jack Sleuth crime, mystery series for youth. Bring is a member of Christian Motorcyclist Association, Military Writers Society of America, Toastmasters International, and Women's National Book Association.

Kim Carmichael began writing nine years ago when her love of happy endings inspired her to create her own. A Southern California native, Kim's contemporary romance combines Hollywood magic with pop culture to create quirky characters set against some of most unique and colorful settings in the world.

With a weakness for designer purses, bad boys and techno geeks, Kim married her own computer whiz after he proved he could keep her all her gadgets running and finally admitted handbags were an investment.

Kim is a member of the Romance Writers of America, as well as some small specialty chapters. A multi-published author, Kim's books can be found on Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble.

From alcohol to makeup to infrared cameras and even scientific lasers studying the atmosphere, Kim has worked in some aspect of sales and marketing for over twenty years. The first book in the Indelibly Marked series, Permanent, was selected as a finalist in the Assent Publishing's Great Romance Contest 2013.

When not writing, she can usually be found slathered in sunscreen trolling Los Angeles and helping top doctors build their practices.

Barbara T. Cerny grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado, enjoying classes in journalism, drama, and marching band/orchestra. However, in college, she received an Army scholarship and went on to study computer science, robotics, and artificial intelligence, leaving journalism and writing as a distance memory. After nearly eight years, Barb left the active duty Army and joined the Army Reserves, retiring after twenty-two years and as a lieutenant colonel. During deployment, she found time to research Scottish medieval historical fiction and Vikings and conjured up her first Druid fantasy, The Tiefling. Balancing a full-time job as a civilian at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a full life that includes ballroom dancing, folk dancing, choir, a husband, two teenage girls and all their activities, Barb somehow finds little bits of time to write—her true dream job.

Ian Coates graduated with honors in engineering and has worked in the high-tech electronics industry for thirty years, where he specialized in the design of radio communication equipment. His intimate knowledge of that environment has brought a unique authenticity to his writing. His lifelong love of books led Mr. Coates to write, but it was being named as one of the winners in the Writers & Artists Yearbook centenary novel writing competition that spurred him on to complete his first novel. The novel was written largely on planes and in airport lounges as well as in snatched half-hours before starting work each morning. Mr. Coates lives in Buckinghamshire, England with his wife and two daughters and is currently working on a second thriller, The Rival.

Grete DeAngelo wrote nonfiction for half her life, all the while dreaming of writing the same kinds of books she likes to read under the covers on Saturday mornings. In her day job, she teaches high school history. Past employment included selling vacation packages, answering letters to the editor, and filing blueprints in a vault. More recently, Grete has embarked upon the grandest and most perilous journey of all, raising two boys. She lives with her family in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Bill's first foray into suspense/horror/supernatural fiction came in the ninth grade with a short story titled The Silence. It was the tale of a young man trying to keep his fear in check as he makes his way across a graveyard on a dark night. He almost makes it, but trips and falls on a broken bottle. It closes with the line ""As the scarlet ribbon begins to flow the silence rules again"". This earned him both an “A” and, needless to say, a trip to the guidance counselor’s office.

Through all of the twists and turns Bill's life has taken, he has always written. Short stories, songs (lyrics and music), whatever format best fit the demands of the particular muse he was satisfying.

Bill believes that the greatest writing asset he has is all of the people who have passed through his life. ""You take part of this person, part of that person, and put them in a story you have lived yourself or watched someone else live, and you can’t help but end up with a compelling read"".

Bill is a native of Raleigh, NC, who spent his formative years in Southeast Arkansas. He now lives in Pittsburgh, PA. His family is rounded out by a miniature dachshund named Theodore, who shares his lunch.

John Dizon was born and raised in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn, NY. He participated in local and high school sports at Bishop Loughlin MHS, excelling in wrestling, hockey, and football. The lead vocalist of the Spoiler and the Ducky Boys, he was a key figure on the Brooklyn rock scene during the Punk Revolution of the 70s. Relocating to San Antonio, Texas in the 80s, he moonlighted as a pro wrestler while working as a legal assistant. He successfully pursued a BA at UTSA and degrees in Korean martial arts during the 90s. He currently lives in Kansas City, Missouri where he is studying for his MA in English at UMKC. Mr. Dizon has been writing suspense and thriller works for over twenty-five years.

J.J. Hensley is a former police officer and Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service who has drawn upon his experiences in law enforcement to write stories full of suspense and insight. Hensley graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. in Administration of Justice and has a M.S. in Criminal Justice Administration from Columbia Southern University. The author is currently a training supervisor with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and lives with his beautiful wife, daughter, and two dogs outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Resolve, Mr. Hensley's first novel, was named one of the BEST BOOKS OF 2013 by Suspense Magazine. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers.

Joyce Hertzoff earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the City University of New York, and spent forty-five years in the scientific information publishing business as a translator and indexer. For twenty years, she was a manager of other scientists and watched as the business evolved from the printing of paper journals to electronic processing and production.

After retiring in 2008 and moving to the southwest with her husband, she left scientific writing behind and turned her efforts to fiction. She participated in the National Novel Writing program for the first time that year and has continued with the program every year since. She is a member of Southwest Writers and Writers Village University. Her short mystery, Natural Causes, appears in the anthology The Darwin Murders and a fantasy short story, Princess Petra, will be included in the anthology The Way Back.

Michael Hibbard was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, but has lived all over the United States, Canada, and Germany. He currently resides in the quaint town of Chester. Many of the locations in his novels and stories are locations that he has lived that made an impact on himself as a person.

He studied at DeSales University in Allentown, Pennsylvania, majoring in english literature and theology. For many years, he has studied the major world religion, philosophical disciplines and various branches of physics in a quest to understand the nature of the universe from one unified philosophy,which became the impetus for developing the Waking Dream Universe. This is more than just a story, it is an attempt to awaken the dreamer within us all, and bring our world to a new way of thinking.

In addition to writing, Michael illustrates, writes poetry, and plays music. He is a perpetual student who reads a wide variety of books in the areas of physics, philosophy, music, paranormal, medicine, cosmology, philosophy, literature and world religions. He also manages to squeeze in enough time to play his Xbox games and play Minecraft.

Michael currently lives in Chester, Virginia with his wife and daughter.

Larry Ivkovich is a former IT professional, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art, who has been writing genre fiction for over thirty years. His work has been published in various online and print publications including Anotherealm, Tower of Light Fantasy, Noctober, M-Brane SF, Kenoma, Afterburn SF, and Penumbra; and the anthologies Triangulations, Twisted Cat Tales, Abaculus III, Raw Terror, SQ Magazine, and Shelter of Daylight. He was a finalist in the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest and was the 2010 recipient of the CZP/Rannu Fund Award for fiction.

Larry is a member of the Pittsburgh Worldwrights, a local writing and critique group, and lives Pennsylvania with his wife, Martha, and two cats, Trixie and Milo.

Martin Kage had always had an attraction to the macabre, dating back to his adolescent years, having a fondness for ’80s slasher flicks, EC Comics, and Stephen King. His adoration to the genre led him to writing horror, starting in his early teens. Along with his writing, Mr. Kage has also been a law enforcement officer for ten years, having worked in New York City and now on Long Island, where he currently resides with his lovely wife, three beautiful daughters, and Golden Retriever named Maxx.

Ian Kane is an author, freelance writer, and filmmaker. After high school, he joined the military and received numerous awards and commendations for his exceptional service. After receiving his Honorable Discharge, he worked as a writer for online and print publications, as a journalist and as a health & fitness expert, culminating in owning his own successful business. Ian has also worked as a military consultant for film productions.

Traveling to many places in the world, in both his civilian and military lives, has given him unique insights, and he infuses this international perspective into both his writing and filmmaking.

A storyteller at heart, Ian has recently made the transition over to doing what he loves most: Creating stories of people whom others can identify with, and hopefully be entertained by along the way as well. Ian recently moved back to his native state of California after spending several years living in Manhattan, New York.

Bette Golden Lamb is an RN, three-dimensional artist, and writer. She claims to need all of these disciplines to stay out of trouble. Her art works have appeared in numerous national shows and are mostly held in private collections. She lives with her husband, J.J., in Northern California, but was raised in the Bronx, which is probably why she likes to write dark and gritty novels. The third of the Gina Mazzio RN medical thriller series, Bone Pit, was recently released. The series, plus two other novels, were written with J. J.

A former firefighter, Louis sometimes feel as if he jumped from the fire into the frying pan when he took up writing as a means to fulfill his passion to create characters and worlds that he longed to inhabit or longed to avoid. He is a recipient of a State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship, his work has appeared in, among others, New Plains Review, The MacGuffin Magazine, The Chaffey Review, and the anthology Everything Is Broken. His first novel, Die Laughing, is a humorously dark sci-fi adventure set in the 1950s.

His forthcoming novel, Pedal, is the story of forty-nine-year-old elementary school music teacher Joanne Brick, who is fired and struggles to reclaim her life back through bicycle racing. He hopes Pedal will inspire women and men of all ages to overcome life’s turning points.

Louis plays bass guitar, though not as frequently as he'd like—something’s gotta give when you write. He has two grown children. He lives in Miami Lakes, FL, with his wife and their terrier, KC.

Tom Lyons has been a writer for over forty years. His writing credits include: A mystery novel, The Spy Living Among Us, and a series of business books including: The Secrets of Top Sales Professionals and The Realtors Survival Guide. He’s also written a number of articles and books on sports instruction including Putt like a Tour Professional.

Shark in the Water, Book #1 of the Cold War Chronicles is his first historical fiction suspense novel. A nationally ranked senior amateur golfer Mr. Lyons lives with his wife and family in Northern California.

Born in Ontario, Canada, Brian Malbon has been all across Canada as a professional driver—from bus to truck to heavy mining equipment. He is a former volunteer firefighter, video editor and film student (with a single credit on imdb.com), a husband and a father of two wonderful little girls. Brian has always had a passion for writing and creating new worlds, and a morbid fascination with horror movies. His particular terror of zombies coupled with his newfound worry for his baby daughter led to the creation of Sheila, his first novel. Brian lives in Northern Alberta with his family.

Mark Meier was born in Brazil and grew up in the United States. He taught in urban public schools before graduate school and now teaches at the university level. After considering a career in national intelligence, he instead worked as a consultant doing work for the UN and US EPA. He continues to enjoy learning, having acquired a few languages (including math) and various belts in isshinryu karate, haidong gumdo, and aikido. He has raced as a cyclist and continues to appreciate the outdoors. He belongs to the Sierra Club in addition to the Authors Guild and other writing and community organizations. He has traveled, lived, or worked in Germany, South Korea, India, Switzerland, and elsewhere, and donates a portion of the profits from his first novel Wisecrack to organizations that support international peace and the rights of women and children.

Carol Moessinger grew up in rural, central Pennsylvania, worked for the Navy Department in Washington, D.C., and married and raised her family. Her ethnic heritage, coal mining family, and educational choices support her desire to create a unique perspective and express deeper insights into human behavior as it is expressed in her writing. Her diverse interests have provided her opportunities to lead seminars and teach workshops on subjects such as Jungian spirituality, the New Testament, Celtic symbols, substance abuse, and coping with mid-life issues. She welcomes the term Renaissance woman. She devotes her free time to gardening, nutrition, and cooking.

Brendan Murphy was raised in Sheffield, England, with dreams of becoming a writer, and has written every day since he was nine years old. After reading medicine in London and psychiatry in Manchester, he moved to Australia in 1999. He is an Associate Professor at Monash University and has written widely on youth mental health. His nonfiction work on the development of football in Victorian society, From Sheffield with Love, was published in 2007. He lives with his wife, Katrina, and their children, Sebastian and Violette, in a sprawling property built for the composer, Dorian Le Gallienne. They share their garden with a mob of kangaroos, a wombat, two possums, any number of creepy crawlies, and some very feisty kookaburras.

Beverly Ovalle lives in Wisconsin with her husband Edmond of 25 years and two Chinese Water Dragons. Her son Nicholas visits when he is on leave from the Marines. Her daughter Susannah visits from time to time to make sure the ‘old’ folks are alive and kicking. Beverly has traveled around the world thanks to five years in the US Navy and has worked for the government in one capacity or another for the past 30 years. Beverly and her brothers have travelled most of the continental United States as children due to the station wagon from Hell. Still active with veterans, she is adjutant for her local AMVETS. Beverly has been reading romances since her Aunt introduced her to the gothic romance in the fourth grade and is still reading every chance she gets.

D.R. Ransdell hails from Springfield, Illinois, where she grew up in a houseful of books. When she wasn't reading, she was learning to play the violin (poor parents!). During the summers, her family hit the road, often spending time in Mexico or Germany. Her fondness for learning languages led to a Bachelor's in Teacher Training for Spanish from the University of Illinois.

To improve her Spanish, D.R. took a position in Durango, Mexico where she taught English as a Second Language. She also started playing for the local orchestra. When she decided to return to the U.S., she chose Arizona. Two months after arriving in Tucson, she started playing with a mariachi band.

D.R. completed a Master's in ESL and a doctorate in Composition. She currently directs second-language writing courses and coaches new graduate assistants at the University of Arizona. She moonlights as a mariachi player.

D.R.'s first novel, Amirosian Nights, combines her love of music and travel. Subsequent projects include a CD of original mariachi music, Diana canta la venganza, and a book of cat poems, The Secret Lives of the Pink House Cats. Her first mystery, Mariachi Murder, was published in May of 2013. Thai Twist is a prize-winning YA romance that further celebrates her interest in foreign language and culture.

Having survived a tragedy, California native Blue Remy, who now resides in the hub of the South, brings an authenticity to her novels that can only come from personal experiences and the heartbreak of being a man's property and ol' lady with intimate knowledge of what women have to struggle with in everyday club life.

Remy writes books that cross over genres and grip male and female fans with their combination of gritty MC realism and romance. She secretly indulges addictions of coffee, cupcakes, collection of boots, and anything Wonder Woman. Blue is an active supporter of the WWP, and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.

Deborah Riley-Magnus is an author and an Author Success Coach. She has a twenty-seven year professional background in marketing, advertising and public relations as a writer for print, television and radio. Deborah writes fiction and non-fiction.

As an Author Success Coach she focuses exclusively on publicity, marketing and promotional solutions for authors. She teaches live and online Author Success Workshops and has spoken at many writers groups and conferences across the country. She also coaches authors, one-on-one to help them create marketing strategies and learn techniques for sales success.

Deborah produces several pieces weekly for various blogs and websites including her industry blog, Deborah Riley-Magnus, Writeaholic, where she passes on value-added nuggets of wisdom and skills for authors struggling to understand marketing, promotions and publicity techniques.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she has lived on both the east and west coast of the United States and has traveled the country widely.

Revelly Robinson was born in Perth, Western Australia and has lived in various other cities in Australia as well as briefly in China and Afghanistan. She has been a practicing lawyer for nearly a decade and is currently taking a break from the profession to undertake postgraduate studies in law. Revelly has been a long time arts reviewer and online opinion writer for various websites, such as ArtsHub and Online Opinion. She has written a number of plays performed by the community theatre company Theatre 451 and published on the Off the Wall Plays website. Since 2013, Revelly has been focusing on writing political articles, short fiction and poetry for the independent newspaper The Australia Times and has recently taken up the responsibility of editor for the Theatre magazine. Revelly was the recipient of the Playwrights Encouragement Award at the Sydney Crash Test Drama in June 2013. She was also shortlisted for the Australian Capital Territory Writers Centre’s Young Writers Award in 2013.Revelly has many active interests including mountain biking, kayaking, bush walking, gardening, cooking and travelling. She has an unhealthy addiction to Australian politics and tweets incessantly about random and mundane things. She is also fascinated by innovative technologies and is always excited by developments in renewable energy technology. Revelly currently lives in Canberra with her obedient German Shepherd dog and travels to Sydney and Vanuatu for her studies on a regular basis.

Cynthia Rosi emigrated by herself from Seattle, Washington to London, England two months after finishing her undergrad work, and spent the next eight years working as a reporter in London’s inner city. While chairwoman of the nationally respected writing group, the London Women Writers Network, she wrote and sold the novels Motherhunt and Butterfly Eyes. In 2003 she moved back to the US with her family and won the Ohio Writer’s Contest for her short story Salmon.

Cynthia’s work has appeared in YOU (Mail on Sunday), The Sunday Express, and Bella, plus The Christian Science Monitor, Latitude News and many other publications. Short stories appear in the anthologies: While You Were Out, and Across Town, as well as Girls Just Want to Have Fun: The Cosmopolitan Book of Short Stories, and EM3. Cynthia is a member of ASJA and the Society of Authors, and currently an MFA candidate at Antioch, LA.

Raised in a family of healers, Cynthia operated an Energy Healing practice for ten years which supported women who were healing out of abuse. She then taught the method for a further two years. During that time Cynthia held retreats, ran workshops, and spoke regularly to small and large groups.

Kurt Schuett knew early on that he wanted to write and upon graduating from high school, he won the Gwendolyn Brooks Award for Poetry in 1993. This honor, coupled with professional publication of The First Time in The American Goat literary anthology in 1993 and Harmony literary magazine, where he won the esteemed Guy Cooper Poetry award for Tree House Blues, all fueled the realization that he could and should write. He dabbled in everything from poetry and short works of fiction to professional essays and lengthier works of fiction both during and after his undergraduate studies. Support from his parents, compounded by the fact that his father was a Golden Apple Award Winning Teacher, strengthened his love for the written word.

Mr. Schuett completed his undergraduate in English at Culver-Stockton College before tackling a Masters of Education at Graceland University. Currently, he is entering his seventeenth year as an educator, formerly a German instructor and presently a high school English teacher working in the suburbs of Chicago. He lives in the northern suburb of Libertyville, Illinois.

Killarney Sheffield is a former horse professional who currently lives on a Canadian cattle ranch with her family and her Thoroughbred stallion Stamp de Gold whom she lovingly refers to as Love Monkey. She is an Epic finalist and P & E winner.

Bernadette Sukley has been fact checking, editing, and writing for over twenty years. Her work has appeared in Sports Illustrated for Women and Women's Health for Dummies. She has been writing novels for the last decade and completed her first novel in 2005 for the National Novel Writing Month challenge. In 2008, she published Hurricane. She just finished nearly three years as a nurse's aide in a trauma unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital. It has been a source of inspiration for future novels.

D. Dominik Wickles earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree at Mercyhurst University. She has spent over a decade teaching computer classes and editing newsletters. Included in her love for computers and the written word, is her love for fiction.

Ms. Wickles has explored many genres including horror, humor, and poetry. Hong Kong Treasure is her first romance novel. She is a member of several writing groups. She lives in Northwestern Pennsylvania with her husband, two sons, and one frisky feline. In her spare time, she builds and decorates dollhouses.

Janine-Langley Wood has been writing since childhood, firstly in the form of comic strips. At around nine years old she cut her teeth on horror reading, sneaking the Pan Books of Horror off her auntie's bookshelves. Having recently recollected some of the old Pan books, she was thrilled to have two horror stories of her own accepted for anthologies edited by Johnny Mains, the Pan expert who wrote the introduction to the 2010 reprint of the first Pan Book of Horror. Janine's eerie tale, The Baby Trap, which appeared in The Screaming Book of Horror (edited by Mains) alongside renowned authors like Charlie Higson, also made it onto Ellen Datlow's 2013 longlist for Best Horror of the Year.

Ms. Wood grew up in Leeds, England. She earned her M.A. in Creative Writing at The University of Northumbria, Newcastle, and now teaches Creative Writing and English to students ranging from prison inmates to foundation degree level writers. She has visited as a guest author in children's schools for Art-Forms Leeds and in The Calderdale Writers Roadshow.

Her literary and horror stories and her poetry have appeared in e-zines, journals and anthologies in the UK and USA. Her script has been shortlisted by the BBC and shown at The Courtyard Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse. She has gained two writing awards: a Northern Promise Award in 2003 from Northern Arts, and a Granny Award from Stories for Children magazine. Melt is her first horror novel. She is currently adapting her Northern Promise Award novel into the horror genre.